Mexico is out of the tournament, but its adidas jersey has outsold Argentina and Germany, adidas confirms. Brazil, also eliminated, has turned its Nike kit into the summer’s biggest fashion crossover, proving a team can win hearts, minds and sales without lifting the trophy.
A few days ago I traveled from Berlin to Munich, from northern to southern Germany, during a regular workweek, with no matches at either end of the trip. In 24 hours, on the street and on the train, I saw two Mexico jerseys and one Brazil jersey. Not in a beer garden, not on a match day: ordinary commutes, ordinary crowds. Germany’s own jersey, by contrast, has largely disappeared from public view this summer, seen mostly on children.
Mexico and Brazil, meanwhile, are both out of the tournament. Both were knocked out within hours of each other on July 5: Mexico lost 3 to 2 to England and Brazil lost 2 to 1 to Norway, both in the round of 16. And yet their jerseys are the ones still visible on German streets. The sales numbers, drawn largely from US retail data, suggest what I saw is not an outlier: both teams are winning somewhere other than on the pitch.
That, too, is the kind of story only the beautiful game can tell every four years.
Mexico shows the on-field-off-field formula still wins
adidas confirmed to Inc. a few days ago that Mexico generated the highest order volume among the 14 federations it is outfitting for the tournament, ahead of Argentina and Germany. adidas Chief Executive Bjørn Gulden said Mexico jersey sales are expected to exceed 3 million units, with Mexico leading all adidas federations during the tournament; Argentina and Germany are also projected to surpass 3 million shirts each. A widely circulated social media post citing Mexican broadcaster TUDN claimed sales closer to 5 million; we cannot verify the figure, but it may still rise by the end of the tournament.
What is confirmed: the green home jersey and black third kit have each sold through about 55 percent of available inventory, compared with 35 percent for the white away kit, with demand split evenly between the Mexican and US markets, according to adidas. FMF commissioner Mikel Arriola said the current jersey is now the federation’s best selling kit in its history with adidas.
adidas released three distinct Mexico kits ahead of the tournament: green home, white away and a black alternative that, according to Pablo Cavallaro, adidas Mexico’s senior director of brand activation, was designed for “a nation that will welcome the world for the third time,” marking Mexico’s status as the first country to host the World Cup three times.
adidas backed the launch with an in person Mexico City campaign, “Somos México,” featuring former players and musicians, plus customization and activation stations. We checked again at the time of writing: the home and third jerseys were sold out on adidas’s own site, with only limited sizes remaining at Fanatics and soccer.com.
Brazil’s jersey is winning in fashion, not just football
Grupo SBF, the Brazilian retail and franchise group that runs Nike’s local wholesale and direct to consumer business through its Centauro and Fisia units, told investors that the yellow home jersey beat internal expectations within days of its release in March. Fisia’s net revenue rose 26.1 percent year over year in the first quarter, the company said, with the World Cup jersey launch cycle as the year’s most significant sales driver.
But Brazil’s real differentiator is happening off the retail floor. According to resale platform Depop, searches for Brazil jerseys rose more than 900 percent over three months, with Brazil tank tops and shirts up more than 500 percent. Pinterest’s Summer 2026 Trend Report recorded a 300 percent jump in searches for “Brazil jersey outfit women” among its 600 million monthly users, according to Refinery29. Depop trends spokesperson Gabriella Karefa Johnson told the outlet that the Brazil jersey functions as a fashion statement first and fan merchandise second.
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That crossover has pulled in adjacent Brazilian consumer brands. Searches for Havaianas on Depop rose more than 250 percent. Separately, Depop told ESPN that World Cup jersey searches overall are up 652 percent in five weeks, with week over week sales up 26 percent, evidence that the fashion crossover pattern extends beyond Brazil, even if Brazil is capturing the largest share of it. We also checked retail availability while writing this piece: as of July 8, Brazil’s home and away jerseys were sold out or nearly sold out on nike.com and the FIFA Official Store.
Fandom can be larger than identity
Mexico and Brazil offer two versions of something that brands and retailers should keep in mind as a lesson for future planning: sales do not depend on performance, nor on pure national identity. While Brazil’s appeal has always driven sales outside Brazil, Mexico is probably the real revelation of this World Cup, on and off the pitch. Those who bought and will still buy Mexican jerseys are not only Mexicans spread around the world, but also new fans, amazed by the athletic performance and fascinated by a kit whose design is probably among the best adidas has created for this tournament. Fandom can be larger than identity. And there is more than one way to win a World Cup.
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